


A Recipe for Disaster

by cosmic_llin



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Baking, Fluff, Gen, Silly, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 07:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16868677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: Miss Hardbroom teaches a class on magical baking, but Mildred and Enid can't resist improvising.





	A Recipe for Disaster

Something was different about the potions classroom when they entered. The equipment that had been laid out for them looked more like… baking tools than anything else. And were those bags of flour and sugar on the supplies table at the front of the room?

Mildred filed into her place beside Enid, feeling a bit apprehensive. She’d done the pre-class reading on healing potions, and she’d felt cautiously hopeful that this week she’d keep up. If this was something different, she’d end up miles behind.

‘Miss Cackle has seen fit to decide that, since it’s the last week of term, _lessons will be fun_ ,’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘So today we will be learning some of the basic principles of magical baking, and then eating the results. I am assured that this will adequately meet the criteria. Please do bear in mind that I still expect rules to be followed and discipline to be maintained.’

‘I thought you couldn’t make food by magic,’ Mildred hissed to Maud, who was at the next bench, partnering with Gloria.

‘Mildred Hubble, surely you’ve learned by now to raise your hand if you have a question,’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘See me after class. However, as you correctly note, food made by magic has no nutritional value. Magical baking involves making food by more mundane means, and infusing it with spells during the process. Today we will be baking gingerbread biscuits, into which we will mix a small amount of a levitation potion. When the biscuits are eaten, they will give you a few minutes of limited levitation ability.’

Enid flung her hand in the air. ‘Miss Hardbroom, Miss Hardbroom?’

Miss Hardbroom turned slowly to look at Enid. ‘Yes?’

‘Why is it just a levitation spell? We did those ages ago. We know that already. Can’t we put something more exciting in?’

‘We cannot,’ said Miss Hardbroom.

‘Why not?’

‘ _Because_ , Enid Nightshade, spell effects in magical baking can be tricky to control precisely. It’s much better to practice using a potion you’re already familiar with, with a recipe that has been thoroughly tested.’

And that seemed to be the final word on the matter. Miss Hardbroom waved a hand and a recipe appeared on each bench.

‘Read the recipe carefully,’ she said. ‘And begin when you are ready. I will move around the room, checking on your progress and answering any questions you may have.’

Mildred peered at the recipe. It looked straightforward – she and Mum baked all the time at home and she was pretty good at it. Perhaps this would be fine. She reached for the mixing bowl and the scales.

‘This is boring,’ Enid whispered, while Mildred measured out the flour and sugar.

‘Ssssh,’ said Mildred, tipping a tiny bit more flour in to put it up to the right weight.

‘Maybe we can liven it up a bit,’ Enid suggested, rummaging in her bag for her potions textbook.

Mildred, busy mixing together the ingredients, wasn’t really paying attention.

‘Here, look,’ Enid persisted. ‘We could try this one.’

She pointed to a spell in the textbook.

‘What does it do?’ Mildred asked, peering at the list of ingredients.

‘It makes objects move,’ said Enid. ‘Just a tiny bit. My parents use it sometimes for stage effects, it makes their sets sway in time with the music and stuff. The gingerbread people will be able to wave at us, maybe. I just want to try it. It’ll be fine. You can do this baking part, I’ll sneak around and do the potion.’

Mildred thought about it. It _did_ sound fun.

‘Let’s do half like that and half following the recipe,’ she suggested. ‘That way we won’t get in trouble. We can just give HB one of the normal ones if she comes around to test, and hide the others if they’re too obvious.’

‘Brilliant,’ said Enid.

They mixed Enid’s potion and added a bit of it to half of the biscuit mix, adding the levitation potion to the other half, cut the mix into shapes with a witch-shapped cutter, and took them to the big oven Miss Hardbroom had transported to the corner of the class.

Fifteen minutes later, they retrieved their baking tray from the oven and carried it back over to the bench.

‘Is it working?’ Mildred asked, looking at the side of the tray with Enid’s gingerbread witches.

‘I don’t know…’ said Enid. ‘Perhaps it takes a minute to get going?’

The gingerbread witches were just lying there. Like biscuits normally did. Mildred prodded one with her finger.

‘Maybe it didn’t work?’ she said.

Suddenly one of the little witches sat up.

‘It’s working!’ Mildred whispered.

The little witch jumped to its feet, and hopped up and down.

Enid frowned. ‘It’s not supposed to be able to do that much,’ she said. ‘Maybe we put too much in?’

The little witch bounced from one end of the tray to another, and then jumped on the edge, flipping the tray over and the biscuits onto the floor.

‘Oh no!’ said Mildred.

The little witch darted behind the bench and towards the back of the room.

‘It’s getting away!’ Enid hissed.

And suddenly Miss Hardbroom was looming over them.

‘ _What’s_ getting away?’ she demanded.

‘Um… we’re… getting carried away with how much fun we’re having, following the instructions?’ Mildred said.

‘Try again.’

‘It’s not Mildred’s fault,’ said Enid. ‘I said we should try a different recipe, and it got a bit… out of hand.’

‘And now there’s a gingerbread witch on the loose in my classroom?’

Enid stared. ‘How did you guess?’

Miss Hardbroom tilted her head upwards. ‘I can see it trying to escape through the window.’

They turned around to look, and there it was, waving at them.

‘Well?’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘What do you plan to do about it?’

‘Um… catch it?’ said Mildred.

Miss Hardbroom stared at them for a minute. ‘Well, go on then!’ she said at last.

Mildred took off towards the little witch, hoping to catch it by surprise, but it leapt higher again, scampering out of reach.

‘Sorry, sorry!’ she said, boosting herself up on their workbench to get higher. Around her, the rest of the class had stopped to watch the spectacle.

The biscuit moved along, and Mildred followed it, accidentally kicking over what remained of Enid’s potion. The potion scattered all over the next bench down, where several trays of biscuits were cooling.

Mildred stopped, hoping against hope that the little witch had been a fluke, but no. All of the biscuits were coming to life, picking themselves up off the trays and climbing up the benches.

‘Bats!’ said Maud. ‘Now what?’

‘I can’t catch all of them!’ Mildred said.

‘Let’s help!’ said Enid.

Half the class ran to grab the biscuits, but the little gingerbread witches were faster and more nimble, and the real witches kept tripping over each other in their haste.

‘I think they want to get out!’ said Maud. ‘Look, they’re trying to reach the door handle.’

It was true – the little witches were forming a pyramid to get higher.

‘Do _not_ let them out into the rest of the school!’ Miss Hardbroom said. ‘Girls, what potion did you add to those biscuits? I can’t stop them safely if I don’t know what’s animating them.’

‘It was in the textbook!’ said Enid. ‘I can’t remember what it was called… um…’ she flipped pages, and Miss Hardbroom hurried to help her.

And that was when the whole pyramid came tumbling down, in a shower of icing sugar and crumbs. The biscuits lay in a pile on the floor, broken to pieces.

‘It would appear that the problem has solved itself,’ said Miss Hardbroom drily.

‘We can’t exactly eat them now, can we?’ Enid said sadly.

‘Five-second rule?’ said Mildred.

Miss Hardbroom shook her head. ‘Potions are spilled on this floor daily. Even with regular cleaning, it would be unwise to eat anything you find there. I cannot guarantee you’d be the same shape afterwards.’

‘So… we did all this work, for nothing?’ said Ethel incredulously.

‘We’re not even going to get any gingerbread…’ said Felicity, her lip beginning to wobble.

Miss Hardbroom rolled her eyes, waved her hands, and a big plate of beautifully decorated gingerbread witches appeared on the workbench.

‘I made some earlier,’ she said. ‘In case of accidents.’

The girls just stared at her.

‘Well, go on,’ she said. ‘I haven’t poisoned them.’

Mildred grabbed a biscuit and took a bite. ‘It’s good!’ she said.

Miss Hardbroom raised an eyebrow as if to say _well, obviously_.

And then Mildred felt her feet rising off the floor. She’d forgotten all about the levitation spell.

The other girls didn’t need any more encouragement to dive in.

‘You know what,’ said Enid, after they’d all spent a few minutes bobbing around the room, ‘this _was_ a fun lesson. Thanks, Miss Hardbroom.’

‘You and Mildred can properly show your gratitude by attending detention this evening,’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘My cauldrons are overdue a thorough scrubbing.’

Mildred sighed. ‘Yes, Miss Hardbroom,’ she said.

She almost thought she saw Miss Hardbroom smile – but probably she’d imagined it.


End file.
